Western crowned winners as focus shifts to Term Two games

Western Region underlined its dominance after securing the overall team title at this year’s Brookside Secondary Schools Term One National Games at the Machakos School.

The region, which finished second last year in Eldoret, topped the charts with 88 points, eight more than last year’s winners, Rift Valley Region.

Nyanza was the most improved region after finishing in third place with 65 points. Central, Coast, and Nairobi regions tied for fourth place with 55 points, while hosts Eastern Region were second last with 54 points. North Eastern Region rounded off the standings with six points at the end of the five-day championships.

Western Region scooped girls’ basketball, hockey (boys and girls), handball (boys and girls) and cross country (boys) titles to cap off a dominant display. Rift Valley, who were dominant in Eldoret last year, were victorious in athletics and cross country (girls) only, arguably a disappointing outing after their exploits last year.

Nyanza put on one of their finest displays in years as they finished second in athletics, basketball (girls), and hockey (girls). Coast won the boys’ basketball titles, as Eastern finally got their hands on the rugby 15s title. It was an underwhelming display from Nairobi Region who only found success in swimming as they lost the boys’ handball title to Western Region.

The stiff competition witnessed saw only two teams retain their crowns with five others dethroned by former giants. Western’s Butere Girls Secondary School and Musingu Boys High School dug deep to keep their basketball and hockey crowns respectively.

Butere’s point guard Daisy Awino was voted the Most Valuable Player in the discipline.

Laiser Hill Academy (boys’ basketball), Nyamira Girls Secondary School (hockey), Butula Boys High School (rugby 15s), Hospital Hill High School (boys’ handball) and St Joseph’s Girls Secondary School, Kitale (girls’ handball) were unable to defend their crowns.

Eastern Region’s All Saints Embu High School finally got their hands on the rugby 15s title after avenging last year’s final loss to Butula Boys High School, as Dr Aggrey High School from Coast Region secured their second boys’ basketball title after their exploits in 2022.

Tigoi Girls High School from Western finally secured their maiden crown, while St Luke’s Kimilili Boys High School and Moi Girls Kamusinga Secondary School reclaimed their handball titles respectively to make it eight in total.

New teams and fallen giants also made their mark, while some found the going tough in the annual championships, Kwanthanze Girl Secondary School showed that they are not only a volleyball powerhouse, but can also compete in the handball. They won silver on their debut, falling to experienced Kamusinga 24-13 in the final. Rift Valley’s Murinduko Secondary School, who defeated last year’s winners St Joseph’s, Kitale at the Rift Valley Region Games, finished third.

Lenana’s return to the games after a 17-year absence was also commendable as they finished fourth in rugby 15s. However, former national girls’ hockey champions, Pangani’s return was not memorable as they failed to advance past the group stages.

Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) Secretary General, David Ngugi, was impressed with the stiff competition witnessed and urged coaches and scouts to harness the talent.

“We have run a successful championship free of any incident and hope that the talents we saw will not be lost in the future,” he said.

With the top three sides in each discipline booking their slots to August’s East Africa Secondary School Games in Uganda, attention now shifts to the Term Two games which feature football, volleyball, rugby sevens, netball, and racquet games.